Category: Collaborative Unit

This is the last week of this course. We successfully finished our project and finalized the Work in Progress presentation and the Video trailer of the whole experience.

Hero Image

The Lost World: Trailer

Logline

An immersive experience that takes you on a journey through the dystopian environments of post climatic apocalyptic Earth inhabited by evolved creatures.

Work in Progress Presentation

Unit Overview

The collaborative unit was extremely helpful in following things

• Team Building
• Interaction with people across different fields
• Problem solving
• Research and Development
• Project Building
• Proactiveness
• Project Ownership

Our team members had the quality of proactiveness and skills of being a team player. We have faced some critical challenges in the project but we solved them by consulting the teachers and using our own research and development. I used my previous work experiences in this project to make the timeline, process, scopes and deliverables smooth and easy.

There were some challenges regarding the tight deadlines and less time and because of this we kept the scope of this project precise. In the future we are planning to refine the environments by doing the visual iterations, optimizing the assets and adding more elements in the scene. In addition, we want to add environments of different countries representing different cultures because climate change is universal and it will effect us all equally. Adding environments of different countries will make the project more inclusive.

1. Introduction

This week we studied unity facial capture in the class. We had our last meeting this week where we finalized both scenes and recorded the video.

2. Collaborative Project

This week we had our last working meeting. The agenda of this meeting was to wrap up the project. We populated the assets and animations, fixed the skybox, UI design and particles. We then took out the renders out for the hero images.

Animation Sequence of Onboarding UI

For conveying my idea to the developer I created a full onboarding video sequence so that VR developers understand it easily and it will help them to integrate it quickly and efficiently. I used the typewriting effect in the text to give it a spaceship interface look. I made the video in after effects.

In the onboarding UI, I have put a one line narrative sentence on each slide that supports the sequence of the immersive experience.

Scene 2: Minar-e-Pakistan

As an art director I was responsible for setting up the scene with the VR developers. This week with the developers I set up the Pakistan scene with the UI and all the environment assets. After fixing lighting and shading this is how the environment looks.

Scene Recording

After setting up the scenes, we recorded the videos in a working meeting. We recorded a few videos from different angles and perspectives so that we can edit and take out a trailer from it.

Introduction

This week we had an industry talk about creative computing. In the collaborative project, we finished making our first environment and integrated the UI.

Collaborative Project

This week we finished setting up the first environment of the scene and I worked on the UI design. Later on we implemented the UI in the VR scene to finalise everything.

UI Design

As I was responsible for the art direction, I decided to take over the UI design as well. I decided to pick the futurist art style to align everything with the project. I designed a mockup first and presented it to the team and everyone supported and appreciated the idea. After that I proceeded to make the final UI Plates.

After everyone liked the UI style. I moved on writing the fun facts of both environments.

For the onboarding UI, I planned to stick with the similar theme. I made the interface look like a spaceship header. In the onboarding UI, I tried putting a one line narrative on each slide that supports the sequence of the immersive experience.

Art Direction

I have done working meetings with the developers regarding scene setup, asset population, lighting and coloring. With the help of all the team we managed to complete our first sequence. Following is a screenshot of how the scene looks.

1. Introduction

This week we had a student visit to Frameless studio to see their collection of immersive experiences. Later in the day, we had a session on how to make meta humans in unreal engine. For the collaborative project, I started working on the logo and the UI.

2. Collaborative Project

2.1 Logo

Logo is the integral part of the project and it is something that communicates your idea. I took advantage of my graphic design degree and started the logo design by making sketches and concepts for the logo. Firstly, I brainstormed the keywords and then shifted to developing sketches. After I made the sketches, I showed it to my team and we pick a few sketches and decided to take them on digital canvas.

I made digital variations of the logos by adjusting sizes, orientation and color of the logo elements. As our project name is the lost world and the theme also revolves around planet earth. It was clear to me that I want to make an icon that has the earth in it. I have made the colors dull which shows the abandonment of the planet by humans but made a glow spot which indicates the rejuvenation and revival of life.
At last we all agreed on picking the following logo.

2.2 Problem-solving regarding animation exports

This week Donatella faced a serious problem with exporting animations. She made the animations in Maya but due to some issues the animations were unable to play in Unity. We consulted different teachers and tried different approaches but could not succeed. I started RnD on my end and with constant efforts and research I come up with a solution of exporting the animations with allembic export.

This solution worked for us and we also discovered why the issue occurred in the first place. It was because we used the rigs made in older version of Maya. And the unity do not support older version rig exports.

2.3 Modelling and Texturing

I then modelled and textured some variations of trees for both environments. After modelling, I also made base map and normal map of both trees and rocks.

3. Visit to Frameless

This week we visited the frameless to experience some visually amazing immersive experiences. The experience not only helped me to expand my visual knowledge but also provided me with sufficient knowledge about how the immersive experience works.

It also helped me on the personal level as I am working on an immersive VR experience for the collaborative project.

4. Meta Human

1.What is World-Building?

World-Building is the process of populating or creating digital environment assets from a library such as Mega-scans and compiling them in a 3D scene in Unreal Engine. Assets such as physical objects as well as sounds and music.

It is not necessary to always use physical objects in the environment to communicate a narrative sometimes an audio is also enough for a narrative.

2.3D Scans

Scan 1

Scan 2

Photogrammetry

This week we worked with Photogrammetry in reality capture. We begin with learning the basic navigation and understanding the interface of the software.

1. Firstly, we imported a video of our scan in the software and it converted the video to image sequences and imported in the software.

2) Secondly, we set the interface and projected the images in a form of 3d mesh. We can see the scan in the form of 3D model now. Afterwards, we had to clean the extra mesh. But at this point I got to know that my scan was not good enough to capture the whole 3D view so I decided to replace it with other scan.

3) The new scan worked really well and now I can see the full 360 degree of mesh. I started doing the cleanup with the lasso tool.

4) After cleaning the mesh, we imported the texture of the 3D scan and implement it on the model. The end result was decent. Then, we exported the mode in the fbx format in case we want to work on it further.

3. Collaborative Project

This week, Neeti showed us the first glimpse of the Lost World project. She setup the terrain and put some place holders in the scene to give us a a rough idea how the scene and particles look.

After that I, Donatella and Neeti did an art direction work meeting and set up the monument, moon, and terrain. This is how we set up the scene and it looks visually similar to the concept art now.

1. Introduction

This week we had a work in progress presentation of our project. We gave the introduction of our team and shared the progress of our project. We visited Tate modern museum to scan sculptures and paintings. We also had the second session of Unity with Herman Ho.

2. Collaborative Project: Presentation

The presentation was extremely helpful to enhance our communication and public speaking skills. The feedback we received on the presentation helped us to fill the loop holes of our project.

One-Liner

An immersive experience that takes you on a journey through the dystopian environments of post climatic apocalyptic Earth inhabited by evolved creatures.

3. Tate Modern Visit

After the presentation we visited Tate British Museum on a study trip. The main aim of this visit was to do the 3d scanning of the artworks of our choice. This visit allowed us to explore the creative installations and artworks from the people of different cultures.

4. Getting Started with Unity

Later this week, we had our second session of Unity. In this session, we worked on creating looping animations. We got familiarize with Unity Animation System.

Looping Animation

We started with important basic pre made assets and recorded an animation of a cube first. After that we tagged the plane as ground. To make the cube animation go up and down in a loop we copied the animation node of the cube and linked it back to the first animation node of cube. We also reversed the speed to -1 from 1 so that the animation becomes a perfect loop.

Then, we worked on how to import pre made animations and put them in loop by turning the loop animation checked in the inspector.

1. Introduction

This week we discussed the challenges we are facing during collaboration. We then had a guest lecture by Jenn Leung on Digital Identities and Avatars Workflow.

2. Collaborative Project: Finalizing Concept Art

This week I made the concept art of both environments. I presented it to my tea and we finalized all the color themes.

Idea behind Concept

The main idea of this project is to show a fictional aftermath of the planet earth in 3023 AD. The art style was a mixture of abstract and realistic.

1.Environment: The monument in the scene takes most attention because it connects us with the culture of the place. The other assets like cars, rocks, trees signifies the remains of pre climatic apocalypse.

2. Moon: The moon shining behind symbolizes the hope. The hope that everything will become better for the planet again.

3. Creatures: I am planning to add glowing creature animations in the scene. Glowing creature signifies that evolved species have inhabited on the planet Earth. Glow and translucency shows the evolution, transition and hope.

4. Lighting: I have kept the lighting dull and monochromatic because the only source of light on the planet at the night is moonlight or the light coming from the glowing creatures.

3. Challenges faced in the Collaborative Project

Later in the session we discussed the challenges we are facing in the collaborative project. The main issue my team and I am facing is finding a common time suitable for all the team-members to meet and discuss the project. I also gave an idea to book an independent study class for all the students of collaborative unit where they can come and do their work without worrying about finding a common time of meeting.

4. Digital Identities and Avatars Workflow

In this session we discussed the concept of avatars and what are their roles in the games and their history. We also analyzed their implications in 3d. As this was an interactive session we engaged with the lecturer through Miro board.

Digital Identities

A digital identity is a collection of information about a person that exists online. When this information is grouped together, it can provide a digital representation of an individual.

What are avatars?

An avatar is a personalized graphical illustration or image that represents an individual, or a character or alter ego. An avatar can be represented either in three-dimensional form (for example, in games or virtual worlds) or in two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and virtual worlds.

What is the role of avatars in digital spaces?

An avatar plays a significant role in digital space as it shows your personality and several times it communicates your identity with other people.

History of Avatars

The early appearance of avatars dated back to the 80’s in computing, where internet users and gamers had on-screen representations. Avatars were seen as important, particularly in gaming to make the experience more immersive. If a person playing the game had an avatar that they felt reflected them, it would facilitate a first-person view.

Since then, avatars have popularized gaming experiences with the likes of Fortnite and The Sims generating revenue through an expansion of avatar/character customization. It was clear that gamers had the desire to personalize their on-screen avatars to better represent who they wanted to be in a game.

Pipeline of making an Avatar

In the session we studied how to make an avatar from a concept to 3d and add animations on it. We discussed different pipelines to make the final avatar. The one we used in class for practice is shown below.

Creating 3D Avatars

We also created the 3d avatars from the drawings we made during the exquisite corpse games. We made 3d avatars by making 3d models and using some pre made assets.

4. Getting Started with Unity

Unity: Session 1

This week we had our introductory session of Unity with Herman Ho. We explored the interface of unity and got to know how we can use unity as an artist in the games industry. As unity is one of the primary gaming engine so this session was extremely helpful for us to make us understand the working pipeline of this software. We got the idea about making and exporting game ready assets for Unity or Unreal Engine.

Setting up the scene

After basic introduction about the interface and the software itself we moved to setting up the scene. Herman guided us how to import assets in unity and how can we build an environment using these props or assets. Then, we received ready made assets from Herman which we imported in unity to create an environment.

After importing the assets, we put some ambient occlusion, chromatic aberration and grains in the scene.

Then, we changed the color temperature of the scene to the cooler tones. We also added the fog in the scene.

I adjusted the color tones further and that is how the environment looked at the end.

1.Introduction

This week we updated our ideas on the project Padlet and discussed the ideas with our Supervisor. We finalized the group members and submitted the information to the project supervisor.

2. Idea Work

We had our first project meeting of all the group members this week. The agenda of this meeting was to come up with a title, plan a timeline, define the roles and responsibilities and divide the tasks among the group members.

Roles and Responsibilities

Dividing roles and responsibilities was a little tricky. Three of us were from animation course so everyone was interested in doing animation. But the project requirements were broad. We needed someone to do the modelling, UI, Concept Art and Art Direction and Project Management. The situation was critical but we divided the roles by keeping the need of the hour in mind.

As I already designed the idea and narrative, I took the responsibility of Art Direction, UI design and Concept Art. My role included problem solving, idea generation and to keep all the team members to align on the same page.

Donatella took the responsibility of Project Management and 3D Animations. She is good with deadlines and organizing so she was the ideal candidate in the group to be the project manager.

Caroline James is responsible for 3d Modelling.

Neeti got the responsibility to be the VR Environment Artist. She is responsible for setting up the scene with me. Implementing all the animations, terrain and lighting.

Ria got the responsibility for adding all the UI elements in VR.

Sharing Concept Art and Sketches

I shared the concept sketches of the idea with my team. We went through polishing the narrative and decided to take these sketches to the concept art stage.

Discussion Outcomes

My team-mates and I shared the idea project presentation with the supervisor. We also discussed the timeline and the framework of the idea. We discussed my vision for character loop-able animations. We also talked about the sfx and background music for the whole experience. As our project is about giving an immersive experience of the environments, the music should be soothing and surreal.

In the end, Donatella divided tasks for everyone that they were supposed to do in the next week.

1. Introduction

This week I wrote a narrative for the collaborative project. In the class, we engaged in different gamified activities with our classmates. These activities helped in bringing our classmates together to solve challenges as a team. Later in the week we had our second social meet and greet.

2.Collaborative Project : Forming a Team and Narrative Design

This week we had the social meetup again and as I knew that my project is about an immersive VR experience I went to the VR course leader and shared the narrative I wrote with her. She then introduced me to a VR students who could be interested. Two of my classmates, Donatella and Caroline were also interested in the project. Along with them and two students from VR, Neeti and Ria, we formed a team.

Team Members

• Donatella Mikulasch (MA 3D Computer Animation)
• Shizra Manzar (MA 3D Computer Animation)
• Caroline James (MA 3D Computer Animation)
• Neeti Kumar (MA Virtual Reality)
• Ria (MA Virtual Reality)

Collaborative Project Idea: Narrative Design

In the aftermath of the climatic apocalypse, humanity faced a daunting reality: the planet they called home was no longer habitable. Forced to abandon their once thriving world, they embarked on a journey into the unknown depths of space, seeking a new home. 

Now, centuries have passed since that fateful exodus, and it is the year 3023 A.D. Earth, left barren and lifeless, has begun to show signs of rejuvenation. The air, once thick with pollution and toxic gasses, is now becoming clean and crisp. The oceans, once choked with plastic and waste, are now teeming with new forms of aquatic life. 

As humanity looks back upon their former world, they see a planet that has evolved in ways they never could have imagined. Strange and wondrous creatures roam the landscape, each one adapted to the harsh and unpredictable environment. 
Despite the hardships of their past, the people of the new colony feel a sense of wonder and excitement as they witness the rebirth of a world that was once left for dead. It is a reminder that even in the face of insurmountable challenges, life always finds a way to prevail.

Moodboards

I have made the moodboards for the character look, feel and colors. This will help to communicate my idea and theme with my team mates.

3. Exquisite Corpse

In the class, we studied how exquisite corpse helps us to understand decentralization. We did the collaborative drawing activity where we have to divide the paper sheet into three parts. The first person draws the head on one part of the paper and then folds the sheet leaving a trace on second part of the sheet so that other person can continue drawing torso from there. The second person works on the torso folds the sheet and pass it on to the third guy who will finish by making legs and feet.

Topic: Animal

The first topic we received for the collaborative drawing was “Animal”. Everyone used their unique ideas to draw the figurative concepts and the end results were excellent.

Topic: Speculative

The second topic of the collaborative drawing was “Speculative”. This time the topic was broad and abstract. A this topic was abstract we had a huge room to explore and experiment.

4.Game: Hello Pumpkin

After the exquisite corpse game, we were formed in the group of three to make a game. With the help of my team-mates Donatella and Jonathan, I come with the idea of the game, “Hello Pumpkin”.

Game Rules

• Make your video with pumpkin filter on Instagram.
• Say pumpkin at the end of every sentence
• Send the video to someone on your Instagram.

Results

5.Collaboration as Decentralized Labor

The tasks we did this week helped us to analyse the collaboration and how if different people work together as a team the results can be more efficient and unique.

In Decentralization of labor, tasks are divided among people according to their abilities and skillsets.

Introduction

This week we received the unit overview. In this course, we have the opportunity to work on unique and creative projects in collaboration with our peers. We were given an introduction on the topics we can work on and later on in the day we met the prospective collaborators in the social meetup.

Basic Understanding of Collaboration

In the class, we discussed collaboration, why do we do it and how to approach it in a group.

Why do we Collaborate?

Collaboration improves the way the team works together to solve problems. This leads to more innovation, efficient processes, increased success, and improved communication. Through listening to and learning from team members, you can help each other reach your goals.

Key to effective collaboration?

Communication is the key to effective collaboration as it helps to solve problems. It is always better to discuss your ideas and define your goals. Active listening is also an important factor. Defining your tasks before deadline and time management helps to make a collaboration successful.

How collaboration works across different disciplines?

It is important to understand each other’s unique skills first, and according to the skills, tasks are divided. Another essential thing is to divide the big tasks into small sub-tasks to keep a better check. We can also use some project management websites e.g. HacknPlan or Asana

Brainstorming

Apart from that we were told some techniques of idea generation and we shared our ideas on the Miro Board. I was interested in showing climatic disaster from dystopian perspective.

Social Meetup

We also got the opportunity to meet students and mentors of MA VFX, MA Animation, MA Game Design, and MA VR in a social gathering. The Social Meetup helped to break the ice among students of different courses. I got the opportunity to discuss my idea with the course leader of MA Virtual Reality and she introduced me to some students of Virtual Reality. Some of the students are interested to collaborate with me on my project.

Meet and Greet Padlet Board

I chose to work on the topic of “Utopia and Dystopia”. I have always been intrigued by dystopian themes, so I decided to work on post-climatic apocalyptic dystopian environments. This project will help create awareness and show people an alarming glimpse of the future, if we do not take any action to improve our planet.